Contemplation

A general misconception on this subject seems to prevail. One confines

oneself for some time in a room, and passively gazes at one's nose, a

spot on the wall, or, perhaps, a crystal, under the impression that such

is the true form of contemplation enjoined by Raj Yoga. Many fail to

realize that true occultism requires a physical, mental, moral and

spiritual development to run on parallel lines, and injure themselves,

physically and spiritually, by practice of what they falsely believe to

be Dhyan. A few instances may be mentioned here with advantage, as a

warning to over-zealous students.

At Bareilly the writer met a member of the Theosophical Society from

Farrukhabad, who narrated his experiences and shed bitter tears of

repentance for his past follies--as he termed them. It appears from his

account that fifteen or twenty years ago having read about contemplation

in the Bhagavad Gita, he undertook the practice of it, without a proper

comprehension of its esoteric meaning and carried it on for several

years. At first he experienced a sense of pleasure, but simultaneously

he found he was gradually losing self-control; until after a few years

he discovered, to his great bewilderment and sorrow, that he was no

longer his own master. He felt his heart actually growing heavy, as

though a load had been placed on it. He had no control over his

sensations the communication between the brain and the heart had become

as though interrupted. As matters grew worse, in disgust he

discontinued his "contemplation." This happened as long as seven years

ago; and, although since then he has not felt worse, yet he could never

regain his original healthy state of mind and body.

Another case came under the writer's observation at Jubbulpore. The

gentleman concerned, after reading Patanjali and such other works, began

to sit for "contemplation." After a short time he commenced seeing

abnormal sights and hearing musical bells, but neither over these

phenomena nor over his own sensations could he exercise any control. He

could not produce these results at will, nor could he stop them when

they were occurring. Numerous such examples may be cited. While

penning these lines, the writer has on his table two letters upon this

subject, one from Moradabad and the other from Trichinopoly. In short,

all this mischief is due to a misunderstanding of the significance of

contemplation as enjoined upon students by all the schools of Occult

Philosophy. With a view to afford a glimpse of the Reality through the

dense veil that enshrouds the mysteries of this Science of Sciences, an

article, the Elixir of Life, was written. Unfortunately, in too many

instances, the seed seems to have fallen upon barren ground. Some of

its readers pin their faith to the following clause in that paper:--

Reasoning from the known to the unknown meditation must be practiced and

encouraged.

But, alas! their preconceptions have prevented them from comprehending

what is meant by meditation. They forget that the meditation spoken of

"is the inexpressible yearning of the inner Man to 'go out towards the

infinite,' which in the olden time was the real meaning of adoration"--

as the next sentence shows. A good deal of light would be thrown upon

this subject if the reader were to turn to an earlier part of the same

paper, and peruse attentively the following paragraphs:--

So, then, we have arrived at the point where we have determined--

literally, not metaphorically--to crack the outer shell known as the

mortal coil or body, and hatch out of it, clothed in our next. This

'next' is not a spiritual, but only a more ethereal form. Having by a

long training and preparation adapted it for a life in the atmosphere,

during which time we have gradually made the outward shell to die off

through a certain process .... we have to prepare for this physiological

transformation.

How are we to do it? In the first place we have the actual, visible,

material body--Man, so called, though, in fact, but his outer shell--to

deal with. Let us bear in mind that Science teaches us that in about

every seven years we change skin as effectually as any serpent; and

this so gradually and imperceptibly that, had not science after years of

unremitting study and observation assured us of it, no one would have

had the slightest suspicion of the fact.... Hence, if a man, partially

flayed alive, may sometimes survive and be covered with a new skin, so

our astral, vital body .... may be made to harden its particles to the

atmospheric changes. The whole secret is to succeed in evolving it out,

and separating it from the visible; and while its generally invisible

atoms proceed to concrete themselves into a compact mass, to gradually

get rid of the old particles of our visible frame so as to make them die

and disappear before the new set has had time to evolve and replace

them.... We can say no more.

A correct comprehension of the above scientific process will give a clue

to the esoteric meaning of meditation or contemplation. Science teaches

us that man changes his physical body continually, and this change is so

gradual that it is almost imperceptible. Why then should the case be

otherwise with the inner man? The latter too is developing and changing

atoms at every moment. And the attraction of these new sets of atoms

depends upon the Law of Affinity--the desires of the man drawing to his

bodily tenement only such particles as are necessary to give them

expression.

For Science shows that thought is dynamic, and the thought-force evolved

by nervous action expanding itself outwardly, must affect the molecular

relations of the physical man. The inner men, however sublimated their

organism may be, are still composed of actual, not hypothetical,

particles, and are still subject to the law that an "action" has a

tendency to repeat itself; a tendency to set up analogous action in the

grosser "shell" they are in contact with, and concealed within.--"The

Elixir of Life"

What is it the aspirant of Yog Vidya strives after if not to gain Mukti

by transferring himself gradually from the grosser to the next less

gross body, until all the veils of Maya being successively removed his

Atma becomes one with Paramatma? Does he suppose that this grand result

can be achieved by a two or four hours' contemplation? For the

remaining twenty or twenty-two hours that the devotee does not shut

himself up in his room for meditation is the process of the emission of

atoms and their replacement by others stopped? If not, then how does he

mean to attract all this time only those suited to his end? From the

above remarks it is evident that just as the physical body requires

incessant attention to prevent the entrance of a disease, so also the

inner man requires an unremitting watch, so that no conscious or

unconscious thought may attract atoms unsuited to its progress. This is

the real meaning of contemplation. The prime factor in the guidance of

the thought is Will.

Without that, all else is useless. And, to be efficient for the

purpose, it must be, not only a passing resolution of the moment, a

single fierce desire of short duration, but a settled and continued

strain, as nearly as can be continued and concentrated without one

single moment's remission.

The student would do well to take note of the italicized clause in the

above quotation. He should also have it indelibly impressed upon his

mind that:

It is no use to fast as long as one requires food.... To get rid of the

inward desire is the essential thing, and to mimic the real thing

without it is barefaced hypocrisy and useless slavery.

Without realizing the significance of this most important fact, any one

who for a moment finds cause of disagreement with any one of his family,

or has his vanity wounded, or for a sentimental flash of the moment, or

for a selfish desire to utilize the Divine power for gross purposes--at

once rushes into contemplation and dashes himself to pieces on the rock

dividing the known from the unknown. Wallowing in the mire of

exotericism, he knows not what it is to live in the world and yet be not

of the world; in other words, to guard self against self is an almost

incomprehensible axiom for the profane. The Hindu ought to know better

from the life of Janaka, who, although a reigning monarch, was yet

styled Rajarshi and is said to have attained Nirvana. Hearing of his

widespread fame, a few sectarian bigots went to his court to test his

Yoga-power. As soon as they entered the court-room, the king having

read their thoughts--a power which every chela attains at a certain

stage--gave secret instructions to his officials to have a particular

street in the city lined on both sides by dancing girls singing the must

voluptuous songs. He then had some gharas (pots) filled with water up

to the brim so that the least shake would be likely to spill their

contents. The wiseacres, each with a full ghara (pot) on his head, were

ordered to pass along the street, surrounded by soldiers with drawn

swords to be used against them if even so much as a drop of water were

allowed to run over. The poor fellows having returned to the palace

after successfully passing the test, were asked by the King-Adept what

they had met with in the street they were made to go through. With

great indignation they replied that the threat of being cut to pieces

had so much worked upon their minds that they thought of nothing but the

water on their heads, and the intensity of their attention did not

permit them to take cognizance of what was going on around them. Then

Janaka told them that on the same principle they could easily understand

that, although being outwardly engaged in managing the affairs of his

State, he could, at the same time, be an Occultist. He too, while in

the world, was not of the world. In other words, his inward aspirations

had been leading him on continually to the goal in which his whole inner

self was concentrated.

Raj Yoga encourages no sham, requires no physical postures. It has to

deal with the inner man whose sphere lies in the world of thought. To

have the highest ideal placed before oneself and strive incessantly to

rise up to it, is the only true concentration recognized by Esoteric

Philosophy which deals with the inner world of noumena, not the outer

shell of phenomena.

The first requisite for it is thorough purity of heart. Well might the

student of Occultism say with Zoroaster, that purity of thought, purity

of word, and purity of deed,--these are the essentials of one who would

rise above the ordinary level and join the "gods." A cultivation of the

feeling of unselfish philanthropy is the path which has to be traversed

for that purpose. For it is that alone which will lead to Universal

Love, the realization of which constitutes the progress towards

deliverance from the chains forged by Maya (illusion) around the Ego.

No student will attain this at once, but as our Venerated Mahatma says

in the "Occult World":--

The greater the progress towards deliverance, the less this will be the

case, until, to crown all, human and purely individual personal

feelings, blood-ties and friendship, patriotism and race predilection,

will all give way to become blended into one universal feeling, the only

true and holy, the only unselfish and eternal one, Love, an Immense Love

for Humanity as a whole.

In short, the individual is blended with the ALL.

Of course, contemplation, as usually understood, is not without its

minor advantages. It develops one set of physical faculties as

gymnastics does the muscles. For the purposes of physical mesmerism it

is good enough; but it can in no way help the development of the

psychological faculties, as the thoughtful reader will perceive. At the

same time, even for ordinary purposes, the practice can never be too

well guarded. If, as some suppose, they have to be entirely passive and

lose themselves in the object before them, they should remember that, by

thus encouraging passivity, they, in fact, allow the development of

mediumistic faculties in themselves. As was repeatedly stated--the

Adept and the Medium are the two Poles: while the former is intensely

active and thus able to control the elemental forces, the latter is

intensely passive and thus incurs the risk of falling a prey to the

caprice and malice of mischievous embryos of human beings, and the

elementaries.

It will be evident from the above that true meditation consists in the

"reasoning from the known to the unknown." The "known" is the

phenomenal world, cognizable by our five senses. And all that we see in

this manifested world are the effects, the causes of which are to be

sought after in the noumenal, the unmanifested, the "unknown world:"

this is to be accomplished by meditation, i.e., continued attention to

the subject. Occultism does not depend upon one method, but employs

both the deductive and the inductive. The student must first learn the

general axioms, which have sufficiently been laid down in the Elixir of

Life and other occult writings. What the student has first to do is to

comprehend these axioms and, by employing the deductive method, to

proceed from universals to particulars. He has then to reason from the

"known to the unknown," and see if the inductive method of proceeding

from particulars to universals supports those axioms. This process

forms the primary stage of true contemplation. The student must first

grasp the subject intellectually before he can hope to realize his

aspirations. When this is accomplished, then comes the next stage of

meditation, which is "the inexpressible yearning of the inner man to 'go

out towards the infinite.'" Before any such yearning can be properly

directed, the goal must first be determined. The higher stage, in fact,

consists in practically realizing what the first steps have placed

within one's comprehension. In short, contemplation, in its true sense,

is to recognize the truth of Eliphas Levi's saying:--

To believe without knowing is weakness; to believe, because one knows,

is power.

The Elixir of Life not only gives the preliminary steps in the ladder of

contemplation but also tells the reader how to realize the higher

stages. It traces, by the process of contemplation as it were, the

relation of man, "the known," the manifested, the phenomenon, to "the

unknown," the unmanifested, the noumenon. It shows the student what

ideal to contemplate and how to rise up to it. It places before him the

nature of the inner capacities of man and how to develop them. To a

superficial reader, this may, perhaps, appear as the acme of

selfishness. Reflection will, however, show the contrary to be the

case. For it teaches the student that to comprehend the noumenal, he

must identify himself with Nature. Instead of looking upon himself as

an isolated being, he must learn to look upon himself as a part of the

Integral Whole. For, in the unmanifested world, it can be clearly

perceived that all is controlled by the "Law of Affinity," the

attraction of the one for the other. There, all is Infinite Love,

understood in its true sense.

It may now not be out of place to recapitulate what has already been

said. The first thing to be done is to study the axioms of Occultism

and work upon them by the deductive and the inductive methods, which is

real contemplation. To turn this to a useful purpose, what is

theoretically comprehended must be practically realized.

--Damodar K. Mavalaukar